Ah procrastination, sweet, sweet companion procrastination. I am a deadline girl. Tell me something needs to be done by “XYZ” and I’ll get it done. Give me a loosey goosey, “Would you could you if you don’t mind,” assignment and watch it age like a piece of cheese in the sun. It stinks. I tend to multi-task far too much. That puts my brain into overload mode and then I zone out. Sometimes I forget something little – other times – something that makes me apologize 1000 times and still feel like a jerk. I try to do so many things that I end up procrastinating on some, many or all of them. Not good.
I am making a conscious effort to start a task and finish it. I’m starting slowly. So now in the morning, instead of filling the water tank in the coffee pot then going to the freezer to get the gluten free waffles and then checking my email and then going to the laundry room fridge for juice boxes and then checking my facebook and then getting the sunflower seed butter and jelly out of the fridge and then checking my Tweetdeck and then wondering why the hell there’s no coffee ready for me to drink… I am opening the cabinet, getting out the filter, pouring in the Starbucks whateverhasthemostcaffeinebecauseGodknowsIneedmoreenergy coffee and hitting the start button. It’s a small victory over procrastination which for me is really a case of being really scattered.
I admit to sometimes procrastinating on purpose. I literally whisper to myself, “You’re a grown up and you don’t have to empty the dishwasher right now, Kim.” It feels kind of naughty to put something off just because you can. Am I crazy?
Of course you can comment tomorrow – don’t worry about it.
The “being scattered” I can relate to. I get distracted like that all the time…
However, the procrastination thing is, I am becoming more and more convinced, a control issue. I am sitting here writing a comment, when in fact I *should* be writing a whole bunch of stuff for a grant proposal (yes, money!), as part of a consortium. Now, the thing is, I originally was supposed to be a workpackage leader for the consortium, but then the decision was made to let someone else do it. That means, someone else is telling me “what” and “when”. So, I am now frogging around with other stuff, following on two “I need it right now” emails. Of course, my excuse is, I am 6 hours behind the rest of the group (this is transatlantic), so *my* 5 p.m. is not *their* 5 p.m. So my little “revenge”.
So, maybe procrastinating is just our way of getting some kind of control, albeit self-defeating and stress-inducing. I begin to think this is what is behind it for me. No matter what kind of task I get (from elsewhere), I seem to immediately think about ways to wangle around the deadlines… There’s got to be something sick behind all this.
Okay, okay, I will now go and do ONE PAGE of what I am supposed to already have sent in. Gaaack.
Best use of “frogging” and “gaaack” in a post goes to German Chocolate Betty. We have a large prize to send you… at some point… maybe… 🙂
Thank you, thank you. If chosen, I will run, if elected, I will serve.
(Big bow) (followed by smirk)
What a PERFECT theme song and 5 minutes of procrastinating by watching and listening! LOVE!!!
Remember the line in Bridget Jones’ Diary, where she talked about how guards were implanting chips into the buttocks of prisoners to track their movements, and how horrified she was at the thought of someone planting a chip in her ass, particularly in the mornings? As someone who ran upstairs half a dozen times today to brush my teeth, search for a kid’s shoes, grab my mascara for the essential stoplight-grooming, and scrounge around for my keys, I can relate, Kim!
Hi, my name is Kim. I am a do it later-er. Today I unpacked ALL of my groceries before checking facebook. Thank you. Really, thank you.
Kim, I say the exact same thing to myself about the dishwasher. And the laundry. And other basic household tasks. 🙂 xo
I’ve always been a good multi-tasker, but the more I’ve gotten into social media, the more I’m starting to become a little ADD. I start to write a blog post and then get distracted checking Twitter. I start to tweet something and then get distracted by Facebook. I start to comment on a Debutante Ball post and…oh, look…butterflies!
Tawna
I’m with you on the power of a deadline to kick my ass into action. I also prefer short deadlines – next week or next month is way more effective than next year.
And yes! There are so many parts of being a grown-up that stink, I think it’s our right to procrastinate on things like dishes periodically!
I can’t get past the sunflower-seed butter. I’ve never tried it before, and it sounds crazy-amazing!!!
Trader Joe’s has the best price on Sunflower seed butter – Gianna’s classroom is peanut free – her teacher has the nut allergy. Sunflower seed butter is a safe, tasty alternative so I can still make a batch of gluten free, casein free and NUT free sandwiches and freeze them for the week. I also adore cashew butter and RAW almond butter – the raw maintains the healthy enzymes – roasting kills them. I have a recipe for a sunflower seed butter cake that is free of ALL flour – it’s basically 10 eggs and sunflower seed butter and sweetener – that bakes up a dark GREEN color – the sunflower seed butter interacts with the baking soda and almost like copper oxidizes. It’s a hit every St. Paddy’s day! (As more of you decline ANY and all invites to my home for funky food.)